Teamama

I bet this smells fantastic on a lot of people, because it almost smells fantastic on me. That musk and smoke! Unfortunately, my skin causes the cranberry and smoke to start fighting each other. The result is kind of plastic-y. Not for me.

From a forum purchase. I LOVE the Lab's Moroccan Rose enough that I took a chance on ETAIP, despite the "morning dew" note. Aquatic notes usually turn bitter on my skin. Not this one! Yay! In the bottle, I mostly smell Rose & sweetness. The sweet smell isn't honey, it might be fig and pomegranate? But only if the pomegranate has been made into syrup. Wet, I smell Rose with a hint of lemon, and sweetness. Dry, the Rose is in front, pomegranate and musk are next, and the chamomile, hay, fig, honey, and dew are somewhere in the background. Sweet and light, not a lot of staying power. Very wearable. I'm glad I got it.

I LOVE Violets, but Violet scents don't love my skin. Alas, BVC continues my losing streak with the fragrant purple charmer. (I will have to get over my sad by lying on one of the huge patches of Violets in my parents' lawn and letting the honeybees walk all over me.) In the imp: Violets "bruised" by patchouli, and green notes from the oakmoss. I didn't notice the currants. Smells good! On my skin: Powdery attar of Meh. Everything flattened out, and wilted like moist cardboard. Why, skin? Why!?

I bought my bottle from a forumite, and I adore it. Love is delicate, with medium throw. The rose & strawberry are evenly balanced, and VERY sweet. The cream stays light and fresh on me, a little less buttery than my experience of Boo (YMMV because I have the HG, not the perfume oil.) I only get the tiniest hint of marshmallow. I do not get any of the plastic or green stem notes that some reviewers noticed. I'd like a second bottle: it's that good!

Snake Oil with leather, tonka bean, red sandalwood, and sage. 2016 WD: Delicious is right! Snake Oil, Tonka, leather, and sage are prominent; red sandalwood is in the background. So satisfying! Tonka & Snake Oil are an ideal pairing; serpentine sweetness coiled around a leather, sage & sandalwood base. WD feels warm and sweet, which is just right for a fat ole Diamondback coiled up basking in the sun near some sagebrush. I love WD the animal, and I'm glad I got a decant so I could fall for WD the fragrance. I wish it lasted longer on my skin; after about 4 hours WD is just a sweet hint of SO. Western Diamondback is a real pleasure. Edited to add: one year later it is even better! Smoooooooth.

2016 is my first experience with Wulric. Love! In the decant: Sharp and musky, with a hint of cocoa. The lavender, vetiver, & birch tar definitely make themselves felt. Sneezy! Wet: Those sharp scents are prominent at first, giving a "bite-y" feeling to the musk & cocoa. They slowly diminish in throw, allowing the musk and cocoa to take center stage. The vanilla is very subtle. I don't know enough about clary sage and cistus to pick them out, but they're both supposed to have leathery & amber characteristics, so they must be responsible for some of the sweetness and leather in Wulric. I am extremely familiar with cardamom husk (every Christmas, busting open the pods to toast the seeds for fattigmann cookies.) I can't detect it in the decant or wet phase. Dry: Over time, Wulric becomes primarily sweet musk, lavender & cocoa, with the rest of the notes in the background. I think I can finally smell the cardamon pod, but that could be self-hypnosis. Wulric's cocoa separated a lot in my decant, and Alumina gave me some good advice about dealing with the sludge here: http://www.bpal.org/topic/87133-carnaval-diabolique-discussion/page-66?do=findComment&comment=2620726 Wulric is a major morpher. My daughter HATES the bright, sharp, bitter smell of Wulric when it's wet, but made off with a cotton sweater I wore while testing my decant, "because it smells so good!" Edited to add: I get compliments nearly every time I wear Wulric. Edited again to add: When worn in a scent locket, the sharp scents don't fade for me (bleh!) Gotta wear Wulric on my skin.

Cottonmouth 2016 is inducing a really intense scent memory for me. The green notes combine with the Snake Oil to smell like summertime by the Yakima river. The Yakima flows through the desert in Eastern Washington. The bitter greens are reminiscent of desert trees and grasses, along the riverbanks. I can smell sunshine through dappled leaves, water on stone, and shade. Entrancing! The floral notes in Cottonmouth are pretty low-key on me. I'm getting Snake Oil with a lot of green. It's not "lush" green; more like the slightly bitter green of willow bark, or desert plants. I REALLY like this! My budget must include funds for a bottle of Cottonmouth! Edited to add: 7 months later, the balance of the notes has changed. The greens have receded to the background, so Snake Oil is more prominent. The florals are still low-key. It has has also become STRONG. Seriously, Cottonmouth has huge throw, and lasts all day.

2016 Faith, lab purchase with her twin Hope. Alone, Faith is a delicate, dry violet fragrance. Not a lot of throw. I go along with the reviewers who have compared it to candy. If Necco Wafers came in violet flavor, they'd smell like Faith. I'm not going to wear Faith alone. Firstly because violet is pretty far down on my list of notes I love, and second because Faith + Hope = WAY better than either one alone. I wore Hope on one arm, Faith on the other, and was surprised and seduced by the interplay between them. I'm much fonder of roses than violets usually, but I'm going to wear these together, every time. I wish there was a way to review H&F together. They're "nice" by themselves, but together they're exponentially better! I encourage everyone who gets H&F to trust Beth on this one, and test them together before deciding to re-home one of the twins. Edited to add: worn together, H&F are REALLY long-lasting. 10 hours.

2016 Hope, lab purchase with her twin Faith. Alone, Hope is a sweet, sheer pink rose type fragrance. Not a lot of throw. It reminds me a little of the roses in Obsidian Widow and Love; kind of candied. Frankly, I would not wear Hope alone. I believe the sheerness of Hope is intentional, because it's half of a pair of twins. I wore Hope on one arm, Faith on the other, and was surprised and seduced by the interplay between them. I'm much fonder of roses than violets usually, but I'm going to wear these together, every time. I wish there was a way to review H&F together. They're "nice" by themselves, but together they're exponentially better! I encourage everyone who gets H&F to trust Beth on this one, and test them together before deciding to re-home one of the twins. Edited to add: worn together, H&F are REALLY long-lasting. 10 hours.

An aged decant crimped by a forumite. I wasn't expecting Intercourse to work for me, but WOW! Benzoin and orris magic, with just a hint of jasmine. Delicious! Not long-lasting, alas, but that's probably a good thing. Otherwise I'd spend all my time trying to get more...

White floral & subtle ivy. It's kind of a pleasant fragrance, but I hate English (tree-strangling, invasive, non-native,) ivy so passionately that I will never be able to bond with The Ghost.

I got a decant of 2016's Love's Philosophy, and it's so fabulous, I ended up buying a partial bottle. It's got something in it that has a variable response to my chemistry. The first day I tested it, I was underwhelmed; the next, it was a hallelujah vanilla cream party. During the first, meh test, I got a lot of the "wintergreen/root beer/Ben Gay" note on application, and it took a looking time to go away. Subsequent wearings have been free of that curse. This has medium throw, but incredible staying power. I get a lot more vanilla than cream, and only a wee bit of saffron.

This is magical. When I first spray it, there is an interaction between the notes that smells like fresh rhubarb sauce (!!) Don't worry if that's not your jam, it only lasts for a short time. (I loved it.) Next phase is strawberry musk, with a hint of cream. Those words don't begin to express what's going on in your nose, because the words "strawberry musk" immediately bring to mind the many ways that the combination could go wrong. Put aside the fear of artificial strawberries, and musk with fruit-loops. This is BPTP strawberry musk, and it is perfect. The final phase is a softening of the musk, leaving simply strawberry. It's like you hulled and sliced a flat of strawberries, and then left the juice to dry in your hair. I love this.

Roses, Pearls & Diamonds is a good one. I would also put Elf, Dawn: Maiden, and Mummeries and Straining-To-Be-Memorable Passages in the romantic/fresh/sweet category.

On me, LPM is like O crossed with Follow Me Boy, with the addition of skin musk. I don't get very much myrrh. It's very sexy, and I probably need a bottle,

Third test of my decant, and I reluctantly have to admit DD is not for me. My skin chemistry just does not play nice. In the vial: almonds and sweet musk, and a hint of citrus. Nice! Freshly applied to my skin, for about a minute: complex red musk and roses, and a little leather (?) Not a lot of citrus, and no almond. And then: RED MUSK, BABY! It's all over. Red Musk had a couple of drinks too many, and has started doing a combination trombone solo / striptease that's making rose and blood orange and almond slide down in their seats and hope nobody knows that they came with Red Musk.

I'm testing an imp from a forum purchase; part of my quest to try all the Conjure Bag oils. Queen lives up to its description. Sexual power, indeed. It's pretty much aroused woman accord. I wonder if this is what puts the Queen in Peacock Queen? In the imp, I smell herbal honey. On me, musk combines with the honey and herbs. I get a subtle hint of licorice or anise, way way in back. It's kind of quiet and close to the skin on me. ETA after around 2 hours, I now smell cumin. ETA (again) At 5 hours, the cumin takes over on me. I really like Q during the first 3 hours. I'm glad I tried it, and I'll probably use the imp occasionally.

I love this. I grew up in a desert, and TN somehow feels like a vision of justice and wholeness in the desert. The frankincense is a resinous, desert-y anchor for the sweetness in all the other good things. This is my first experience with spikenard, which is definitely not to be missed. I was blown away by a frimp, and promptly bought a bottle. TN is unique, and elevating, and pleasurable.

Today I'm testing a decant of Love's Philosophy. I ate an entire tube of mini M&M's in the morning around 9:30, alas. However, at lunch time I made much better choices, focussing on protein (hummus) and vegetables (celery & cukes,) to feel full & satisfied. I've enjoyed the vanilla creaminess of LP and Boo HG all day. I think it helped me to be mindful after dinner, because I caught a vanilla whiff as I was preparing to put away leftovers. I felt my stomach, and noticed that I felt satisfied. As a result, I did not pick at the leftovers and mindlessly overstuff myself.

My decant of Black Moths smells so promising in the vial, but my skin wrecks it. I have tested it 3 times now. Each time, the complex, dark, mysterious scent I get from the vial has gone flat and blah once it's on my skin. The Rose & patch disappear, and the vetiver, plum & blackcurrant somehow turn into salty herbal fruit leather. 3 years later, I found my lost decant. This is an assertive vetiver & patchouli blend. The rose & fruits are a good background, but vetiver & patch are the stars. I can't think of many occasions I will break out this blend for (Shakespeare in the park?) but it's a keeper.

Today is turning out to be pretty sedentary, except for some laundry. After my shower, I put on Snake Oil, Revenant Rhythm HG, and a cozy sweater and jeans. Since we're likely to lose power some time today due to high winds, we made minestrone. I'm knitting, drinking black tea, and haven't felt a need to supplement the tea with goodies. A couple of times while watching my family eat nibbles, I've thought about making popcorn. Each time, I've had a little more water or tea, and felt my belly. Since I'm not getting hunger signals, I've waited for the impulse to pass, and each time it has. Of course now that I've written about popcorn, my mouth is watering a little. I'll see if water makes it pass, and if not, I'll have a little bit .

I have decided that I'm going to use BPAL as an incentive to make healthier choices. My weight has gone up and up and up over the last several years. I do not like what's happening to my endurance, strength, agility, blood pressure, or my risk for developing diabetes! My plan is: 1. Associate the pleasure I take in smelling great with healthy behavior. (I'm wearing a different BPAL to my Weight Watchers meetings each week, so I can tie what I'm learning to scent.) 2. Reward myself with BPAL purchases for healthy behaviors (like increased fresh fruit & vegetable intake, exercise, drinking more water, increased flexibility & strength, reduced body measurements, etc.) I haven't yet figured out what the criteria for rewards will be, and would love wisdom from the room :-). Ideas: Walk 1000 steps farther each week for X weeks = a bottle? My resting heart rate goes down? Accomplish a physical activity without huffing and puffing? Low blood pressure number goal? My hope is that by using BPAL to say "atta girl!", I'll train myself to feel rewarded without involving caloric overload.

Ditto!

Brown Jenkin for sure, The Little Wooden Doll, Rakshasa, and Volcano in Springtime from the 2016 Lupers. Of the 4, Brown Jenkin seems to have the greatest proportion of sandalwood.

Wow, Volcano is by far my favorite Luper blend for 2016. In the decant: sweet vanilla cream and sandalwood. Applied: the Sandalwood's warmth spreads out, sweetened by the vanilla cream. I can't identify lotus root as a note in Volcano, I suspect it's also adding sweetness. Volcano stays true over time. It lasts a long time on me, and it's so pleasurable! My decant is going fast, and I have put in an order for 2 bottles. I think Little Bird described Volcano well "...a rich, sweet vanilla cream and hint of warm woodiness." 2022 update: With age, the lotus root note is now a prominent part of the blend. Still gorgeous!